Hunter
" There were hunters now, thanks to Greene... " '' - Alex Mercer. '''Hunters' were spawned by Elizabeth Greene to give the infected the ability to destroy vehicles and large groups of military units. They are a fearsome force to be reckoned with, especially in greater numbers, and take the role of the warrior caste of the infected. Overview Hunters are incubated and hatched from infected water towers and hives. When Alex went to find more information from Greene, he accidentally released both her and the original hunters ( the original hunters were infected Blackwatch soldiers ). Alex usually has no trouble bringing one down if he keeps moving, but if there is a pack of them he will have a hard time taking them down. If the blade power is used, not necessarily fully upgraded, then the hunter goes from being a strong enemy to a slight obstacle. When the blade is coupled with the armor, taking down even a hunter leader is made an easy task. Appearance Large, brutish, heavily mutated humanoid beasts with reddish, hairless skin, bulging muscles, sunken eyes and mouth. They bear a passing resemblance to a shaved gorilla. They are powerful creatures that can easily destroy tanks and go toe to toe with Alex. Hunters are equipped with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, durability, and regenerative capabilities. Dealing With Hunters Hunters can be quite intimidating. The claws didn't have much effect during the first mission where Hunters appear, but they seem to be more effective when fighting in the streets. In the military base where you first face Hunters, use ranged weapons like assault rifles or rocket launchers. You can also throw objects at them when targeted. This will significantly decrease their health while preserving yours. The same applies for future encounters with Hunters. If you want to go toe-to-toe with a Hunter, use the Hammerfist Power. An Elbow Drop can quickly kill or stun them. The blade is also effective; a fully charged aerial attack will either stun or kill it. If you are cornered, use your diveroll ability or jump away. For safety, you should avoid being cornered by multiple hunters. Multiple Hunters and Alex in a tight corner don't mix together. They can drain your HP easily this way. It can be hard to hit back since they knock you aside. Hunters have the ability to regenerate health on their own or by devouring bystanders, meaning you have to keep the pressure on the Hunters. However, the healing animation gives time for Alex to deal a quick sucession of attacks. You should also use the military to your advantage. Stealth Consuming military personnel boosts your health and provides firearms to use against hunters. Use tanks and helicopters (Hijacking an helicopter will raise an alert even if in disguise) to deal massive amounts of damage to hunters. Combine both your machine gun and rockets while in a tank. In a helicopter, use the machine gun and guided missiles for maximum efficiency. Hunters are generally not a threat to you in a helicopter, although they may occasionally throw objects at you. They can be very dangerous when you are in an APC or a tank, as they attack up close, outside of the range of the vehicle's weapons. Encounters With Hunters Encountering an hunter is a fairly common in Prototype, they first appear in the mission Behind The Glass while Alex rescues Elizabeth Greene from GENTEK. Greene spawns Hunters in the game world. Upon consuming one particular Hunter, Alex gains the Claws power. Hunters also hatch from the infected water towers, however this can be easily avoided: You can destroy water towers from a distance by throwing objects at them or using a helicopter. Infected water towers are easily recognizable using Infected Vision. Hunters are very common near Infected Hives, where up to five will attack the military, Blackwatch, or Alex himself. An infected water tower can also be identified by the pack of crows flying above it. Leader Hunters Leader Hunters are the leaders of Hunter packs. They are only encountered in certain missions and events, and only after the Dana is kidnapped, thus keeping the amount of time they present a problem to the player at minimum. Hit and run attacks are best used against this enemy, as attracting their attention causes them to launch repetitive quick attacks that are not easily dodged and are heavily damaging. Devastators and aerial attacks are the most effective means of taking this enemy down. Appearance These are larger and stronger than their normal hunters and have an extra mouth atop the back of their head. According to Dr. Ragland, they have two brains and two spinal columns. This makes them more resilient than normal hunters. This adaptation also makes absorbing them a problem for Alex because he has to stop these from functioning first. This extra spine and brain is easily overcome by a blade through the head and quick elbow to the back before consuming. Alex does this automatically after he has learning of Leader Hunter physiology. Dealing With Leader Hunters A Leader Hunter is much more intimidating than a common Hunter. Because their attacks are brutal and highly damaging, The following tactics can be effective. Try to develop your own tactics against leader hunters if nothing here fits you. Aerial attack '''- The aerial attacks of the Blade and Hammerfist are very helpful and quite damaging, as are drop attacks like Bulletdive, but be aware that you end up very close to the Leader Hunter so he might attack you, so stock up some health before trying this. '''Whipfist - The whipfist's damaging capabilities may be underestimated here, however, its ability to attack from distance surely cannot be. Attacking from rooftops and then running from a rooftop to another rooftop and charging the Whipfist's attack is very effective. This might be boring, but believe me, you don't want to get hit by this guy. Keeping your distance from Leader Hunters is very important, and in another manner, attacking too. Combine these for a sure victory. Devastators - Devastator attacks are effective against... well, EVERYTHING. Leader Hunters are no exception. The most powerful devastator against a single enemy is Critical Pain, but in crowded areas, Tendril Barrage or Groundspike Graveyard are also good choices. Hit and Run - This is an effective way of preserving health and deal a lot of damage. Kind of same style as the Whipfist tactic, but more dangerous. You can engage the Leader Hunter with a Blade or Hammerfist, attack until your health runs low, and then retreat to regenerate. If there are a lot of weak infected nearby to consume, you can get your health back quickly. Groundspike - Groundspike can be an effective hit and run tactic, especially when upgraded. Not only can you strike from a distance, it also stuns the enemy, if only briefly. It doesn't take long to deploy, but make sure you are facing the Leader Hunter as you will be immobilized for a few seconds until the spikes retract. If you don't use the armor, Alex can ran faster than the Leader Hunter and get good enough distance to Groundspike, not to mention Diveroll if your enemy gets too close for comfort. Another similar tactic is to time your attacks with the Leader Hunter's pauses. He does a series of Groundshatter-like attacks when you are nearby, so when he starts these attacks, you can keep your distance until he becomes tired, after which you can engage with close-up attacks. Encounters With Leader Hunters The first leader hunter sighted is the one that kidnaps Dana, Alex's sister. Another one gets consumed in the abandoned military base, giving Alex the Infected Vision ability which syncs him with the Hive Mind. So that would lead him to the leader hunter that kidnapped Dana. There are also three Leader Hunters appearing in the Stairway war event, where you fight as a military ally against the Infected. A pack of them also appear when you have to pump the Bloodtox underground. Nodes of Intrigue The first Leader Hunter that Alex consumes partially gives him the Infected Vision ability. The second one gives him Dana's location. Supreme Hunter Main article: Supreme Hunter Encountered twice in the game, this creature should be considered one of the toughest enemies. Possessing vast physical strength, speed, agility, and durability, the Supreme Hunter is physically more capable than Alex. Web of Intrigue scenes suggests the cancerous antibody compound injected into Alex and Elizabeth Greene was sentient, which suggests the Supreme Hunter was a personification of the compound. The Supreme Hunter is first encountered when Alex injects Greene with the cancer weapon used on him by Captain Cross. The Supreme Hunter instantly spawns from Greene, possibly due to Greene's body rejecting the cancer. The supreme hunter can use some of Alex's abilities such as the Tendril Barrage. After Alex defeats the supreme hunter the first time and he steps in a puddle of it's biomass and reawakens it as a result, however it is not seen again until later. After this, the Supreme Hunter uses Alex's consume abilities and is revealed to have his disguise ability as well, although it is unknown whether it already had them. Brawler Hunter First seen in 2007-2008 builds, the Brawler Hunter was later cut from the game and replaced with the leader. In an interview this kind of hunters was described to be very aggressive. Trivia * Sometimes, though rarely, a hunter will pick up an Infected civilian and bite their heads off. * Hunters will attack you while you are in Military or Blackwatch disguises (or in Alex or Armor form). Hunters will chase you until you are at least 200 meters from the Hive. However, Hunters will ignore Civilian disguises, giving you free attacks on the Hive. * Sometimes, Hunters will cause Infected Water Towers to hatch. The best way to avoid this is to use the Drop Kick attack and lead the Hunter away from the water towers. * Hunters may occasionally attack each other. * Hunters will attack tanks, Alex, Marines, Blackwatch, helicopters, and Super Soldiers if given the chance. * When you do bonus play after beating the game, you can find Super Soldiers and Hunters fighting on the rooftop of a building. This is because there is a War event nearby where you fight as an infected ally (alongside Hunters) to defeat the Military (Supersoldiers). Category:Enemies Category:Infected Category:Node of Intrigue